WORLD KEMPO CHAMPION ONCE AGAIN...

DRAGON SPIRITS OWN RAY GILBERT RETURNED WITH 5 GOLD MEDALS, 2 BRONZE, and 1 SILVER from the World Kempo Championships held in Faro, Portugal.

There were 26 countries in attendance and he obliterated the fighting divisions. I am proud beyond words. He trained so hard this last year, fought through every ache and pain that I put him through and it more than paid off. I am honored to have had the opportunity to help him prepare for the Championships. He is a Warrior in every way and he just keeps getting better and better.

Ray we are all proud of you so much...

Xtreme Couture

On Saturday April 5th Jeremy, Big Mike and his son Joseph, Josh, and myself all took a trip to the Xtreme Couture gym in Independence Missouri. We looked around the gym, spent too much money in the pro shop and watched 12 fights. We had a blast, it was actually the most fun I have had in a long time. I would like to thank Jeremy for taking all of us and Big Mike for planning the trip and getting the tickets. The fights themselves were decent, not extremely impressive but not horrible. Seeing them just made all of us want to step into the octagon even more. The current plan is to have a team ready by the end of the year with as many different weight classes as possible so that we can represent the school well. Becoming a member of the team will be invitation only and will be based on your abilities and level of conditioning. So those of you wanting to be a member of the team...Get Ready....

An Inspiration...

On Monday the 31st Dan DeWelt honored us by coming to our facility and talking about motivation as well as sharing some of his amazing experiences and insight into training. There have been very very few people in recent years that I have been amazed by and Dan is one of those individuals. I am thankful that he took the time to come speak at our school.

Remember what you can conceive and if you believe you can achieve.

Meet Dan DeWelt

The following link is the Hall of Fame page for Dan DeWelt. I still can't believe he is 64 years old....

www.scottishmasters.org/hofdandewelt.html

I HATE RULES....and LIMITATIONS

I study and train constantly, I am just never satisfied with anything I do in any endeavor. Something that aggravates me to no end is people who adhere to the rules and limitations of self proclaimed know it alls. I read the newest and latest training information as soon as it comes out, just so I can learn more. Not so much for the sake of learning but to see what I can do to make my body and mind more efficient in every capacity. Something that I have realized in the last year is that the human body can do so much more than I ever previously thought. I once believed that you couldn't train hard multiple times in a day without dying after a few days. I finally decided to throw out the "rules" of training that I had heard and read about over the years and decided to push myself past my perceived limitations. For a while now I have been training 4 times a day minimum and in some cases five times for five days a week. Some people would say that is extreme over training. I have found out that experience is the best and most harsh teacher.

No one knows your body like you do. No one can push you to your potential and beyond except you.... The main thing that I have done is listen to my body and train accordingly, if I find myself not mentally into a session then I change it up, if I feel that my performance on the mat is regressing then I change things. Some days you feel like you can lift the world and some days you feel like the world fell on you....

Don't ever believe you are average or mediocre...

One of our own...

Yesterday I received a call from our Dragon Spirit "Doc" Matt and he informed me that he tore his achillies tendon yesterday while playing flag football. He is doing well and will be having it repaired as soon as possible. He is a great athlete and warrior and I am sure he will come back stronger than ever. My thoughts and prayers are with him.

Yet another great workout...

I woke up this morning feeling much better than I had since Friday. I honestly wasn't feeling very energized for my workout due to my being sick the last 3 days. I got to the gym and began warming up when Dan walked in (the 64 year old Athlete). The second I noticed him I was ready to throw some weight around. His excitement for training and energy just fill the air, he has an inspiring presence. We talked between sets as usual each telling training stories and such.... when it was time to lift again we stopped then resumed the conversation directly after the set. I hit several new personal bests today just because of Dan's energy.

I remembered another one of my favorite quotes today as I was training and talking to Dan...

"Complacency is the root of mediocrity".... Mediocrity happens because we become complacent in one or more facets of our life. Honestly I had become pretty complacent in regards to my weight training. Until Josh Elmer began training with me I had not pushed myself as hard as I should have in the gym for quite some time. Then with the opening of the Powerhouse gym I gained even more motivation, to top it off I meet Dan Dewelt my first day training at the new gym and I train harder than I have ever trained before.

A guess my point to this rant is that whatever your motivations are do your best to not become complacent in your current training or abilities, always push to reach "The Next Level"...

Complacency can sneak up on you....it did me...